The circle of fifths. An introduction to chord progressions.

This free lesson on the circle of fifths will help you to memorize
the key signatures and the number of sharps or flats in each key.

It is also a useful lesson for all musicians who want a better
understanding of common chord progressions and their use in playing and
writing music.

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Many of my student at all levels and benefiting and praising this new internet based software which allows them to see, hear, and play any song from the internet in any key and at a comfortable learning speed.

It is foundational in music education for all instrumentalists and songwriters.

It is very helpful in deciphering and memorizing all the key signatures.

Because of its clever design, the circle of fifths is also
very handy in composing, and harmonizing melodies and moving to
different keys within a single composition.

The circle of fifths is a great tool for memorizing Key Signatures!

If you review the lesson on
major scales,
you will recall that the C Major scale contains no sharp or flat notes - C D E F G A B.

This is the only Major scale with only white notes on the piano keyboard.

The key of C is one of my favorites both for teaching basic theory formulas as well as for ease of fingering.

All other keys will one or more sharp or flat notes.

Each key has a unique key signature. (that grouping of sharps or
flats just after the time signature at the beginning of a piece.)

If we start with the fifth note of the C major scale and build a
major scale starting there we get the G Major scale - G A B C D E F#.

If you built the scale correctly using your major scale formula you will notice that the G major scale contains one sharp (F#).

Now, lets build a third scale starting from the 5th note of the G Major scale
.

You will now be looking at and sounding the D major scale - D E F# G A B C#.

Notice that we added an additional sharp and now have two sharps (F# and C#).

Let's repeat the process again starting from the 5th note of the D Major scale.

We now have the A Major scale - A B C# D E F# G#.

Can you see the pattern starting to develop?

The A Major scale has one more sharp than the D Major scale.

Another pattern is that the added sharp in each case uses the
letter name of the note preceding the name of the scale in our musical
alphabet. G scale adds F#, D scale adds C# etc....

Any self respecting circle begins where it ends and if we follow
the developing pattern and continue to form our scales building on the
fifth note of the previous scale we will end up where we started with
the Key of C again.

After checking out dozens of home study courses that teach you to play by ear and focus on chord progressions I am convinced that the folks at Hear and Play have the best, most well rounded program available for just about all styles of music from Gospel to Jazz. Read my review or visit Hear and Play for more information.

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If you have any questions, suggestions, or ideas for future lessons feel free to Contact Me.